DREDD (2012) - PREVIEW

Dredd (2011)

Starring: Karl Urban, Olivia ThirlbyDirector: Pete Travis

U.S. Opening Date: TBA 2012

THEY SAY

Dredd takes us to the wild streets of Mega City One,
the lone oasis of quasi-civilization on Cursed Earth. Judge Dredd (Karl
Urban) is the most feared of elite Street Judges, with the power to
enforce the law, sentence offenders and execute them on the spot - if
necessary. The endlessly inventive mind of writer Alex Garland and the
frenetic vision of director Peter Travis bring Dredd to life as a
futuristic neo-noir action film that returns the celebrated character to
the dark, visceral incarnation from John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra's
revered comic strip

WE SAY

Sure, Karl Urban is a better choice for the role than
Sylvester Stallone and anything will be better than having Rob Schneider
as an annoying sidekick. However, we’re not too excited about this reboot.

Why? Because the movie is being filmed in South Africa
for a measly $50 million. Sure, they made
District 9 for less than that in
South Africa, but that movie made effective use of its locations while
Dredd is supposed to be set in a bustling megalopolis a few centuries
from now. What we’ve seen from leaked set photos it looks rather cheesy as
if Dredd is going to drive Nissan pick-up trucks with “Mega City”
stickers on them. (A lot of cheesy made-for-DVD movies are made in South
Africa such as Scorpion King 2
and Death Race 2.)

It just may be that Dredd’s ambition far
outstrips its budget at the end of the day and the character deserves
better than a direct-to-DVD effort.